This invention relates to providing a system for project planning and scheduling. More particularly, this invention relates to providing a system for simplified, interactive, graphics-based project planning and scheduling using new planning concepts, new scheduling concepts and new graphics-based software systems. Further, this invention permits an inexperienced user to simultaneously plan and schedule a project including establishing appropriate relationship (or dependency) links between project activities, also commonly referred to as tasks or simply activities, and between activities and milestones.
Typically, projects of any consequence are scheduled by using activity network techniques such as ADM (Arrow Diagramming Method), PDM (Precedence Diagramming Method), or CPM (Critical Path Method). These methods are effective tools when used by highly-trained, experienced, knowledgeable planning professionals, but they are extremely complex and generally cannot be effectively used by inexperienced professionals or laypeople wanting to plan a single project. Even for experienced planning professionals, these tools require that planning and scheduling be bifurcated and undertaken in sequential steps (in “batches”). To create a schedule, the planner must first complete the planning, i.e., define activities and their relationships (also often referred to as relationship links, links or logic ties), without knowing whether the plan, as it evolves, will yield an acceptable schedule. Once the planning is completed the activities must then be scheduled to determine activity dates and resulting “total floats” and yield the anticipated project completion date. Additional steps are often required to optimize the resulting resource demands, optimally crash or extend activities to meet completion requirements or assess schedule risk.
The disconnected, serial, complex protocols typically require much iteration before the plurality of activities and relationships depicting the project are satisfactorily completed. Thus, planning and scheduling become very time-consuming iterative processes; only through laborious trial and error are realistic project schedules achieved. Frequently, the resulting schedules end up presented as a helter-skelter, garbled-up plot only discernible by the scheduler and often ignored by other stakeholders. Finally, for professionals without extensive training in CPM and CPM-based software, not to mention the common person, the concepts and process are too complex and time-consuming to be used even for the simplest projects.
Thus, a great need exists for a system capable of effectively permitting simultaneous interactive project planning and scheduling usable by highly-trained scheduling professionals, project managers with limited CPM and CPM-based software training and even inexperienced users. Additionally, the problems brought about by disconnecting planning from scheduling and the iterative, time-consuming, non-intuitive and resource-intensive process must be solved.